For decades, the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex has been a popular venue for all sorts of cultural performances and sporting events such as The Arnold Classic. But now that county commissioners plan to demolish the building to make way for a smaller memorial, regular patrons are looking for alternative spaces.

For decades, the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex has been a popular venue for all sorts of cultural performances and sporting events such as The Arnold Classic. But now that county commissioners plan to demolish the building to make way for a smaller memorial, regular patrons are looking for alternative spaces.

Every January for the past 15 years the city of Columbus has honored the life and legacy of Doctor Martin Luther King Junior with an evening program at Vets Memorial. Dan Willis, the president of First Class Events, has produced the event during those 15 years. Next monthâ€™s program will be the last at Vets since demolition is on the horizon. Willis says Vets has been a wonderful home for the King tribute.

â€œThis whole change wouldnâ€™t be as bad if I knew where we were going to go or if we had an option that could handle the size of our venue. Thatâ€™s up in the air right now. But I donâ€™t know what weâ€™re going to do in 2015. I donâ€™t know where weâ€™re going to go; I donâ€™t know how weâ€™re going to do the program,â€ Willis says.

Willis wonders if there will be a program at all in 2015. Yes, says Napoleon Bell, who is executive director of the City of Columbus Community Relations Commission.

â€œItâ€™s been a tremendous event, a tremendous program to really galvanize the community around the life and legacy of Dr. King so weâ€™re looking at different locations and alternatives but we will definitely have something that we memorialize and celebrate his life and legacy,â€ Bell says.

Q: Do you think youâ€™ll find a location that would be as suitable as Vets Memorial?

â€œI feel as though we will. Weâ€™ve got a couple of ideas; weâ€™re tossing some things around. But we havenâ€™t made any contacts on that yet but we do have some ideas that we think will be great. So weâ€™re hopeful that wherever it ends up at it will be just as good a program, although different because itâ€™s not in the same location, but nonetheless, it will be a great program and the focus will be remembering and keeping with the mission and vision of Dr. King,â€ Bell says

Veterans Memorial offered both exhibition space and a nearly 4,000-seat theater. The theaterâ€™s capacity filled a niche in the Columbus market because of its size. Brian Ross is president and CEO of Experience Columbus.

â€œThe theaters that we have now, I believe four or five downtown that are absolutely first-class, world-class theaters, I believe that the maximum that they can hold is about 2,700 and you can do about 3,900 in the auditorium over at Veterans Memorial. So that was a niche that if you had any type of entertainment that was over the 2,500, 2,900, then you had Veterans Memorialâ€™s theater as an option,â€ Ross says.

Ross says he believes that the Ohio Expo Center can pick up some of the business that has gone to Veterans Memorial over the years.

â€œThe facilities there fit quite nicely with some of the needs that people have had at Veterans Memorial. And with groups that we have had with consumer shows, usually Vets and the Expo Center would compete,â€ Ross says

One thing that Veterans Memorial offered over other venues, Ross says, is affordability.

â€œVeterans was able to provide a low price point over the years,â€ Ross says.

The low rates at Veterans would have changed, Ross says, because the memorial auditorium faced costly renovation and modernization. The new memorial wonâ€™t have an indoor theater but Ross says other venues are available.

â€œWe have a lot of opportunities, a lot of venues in Central Ohio. And those venues range anywhere from the Convention Center which has the most square footage at about 1.7 million square feet from a convention side of things to different hotels and conference facilities,â€ Ross says.

Meanwhile, Dan Willis, who produces the annual King celebration and tribute, says the years spent at Veterans Memorial have been great.

â€œItâ€™s been wonderful. We have been able to work with Veterans Memorial at all levels. The stage crew, the administrative crew, the building maintenance crew; everyone is on the same page when I go down to do an event, whether itâ€™s the Martin Luther King show, or the veterans stand-down, which is for homeless veterans, or the Veterans Hall of Fame induction that we do every year, theyâ€™re always on the same page and they want me to be as successful as I want them to be. I get 110 percent from them all the time and itâ€™s very encouraging to work with a group of people that are on the same page as I am consistently. Itâ€™s just refreshing. Iâ€™ve always enjoyed working with Vets Memorial,â€ Willis says.

Demolition will occur next year. The start of construction for the new Veterans Memorial will occur in early 2015.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/12/08/loss-of-vets-memorial-performance-space-hard-to-replace/feed/0Brian Ross,Dan Willis,Franklin County Veterans Memorial,Napoleon Bell,Vets MemorialFor decades, the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex has been a popular venue for all sorts of cultural performances and sporting events such as The Arnold Classic. But now that county commissioners plan to demolish the building to make way for ...For decades, the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex has been a popular venue for all sorts of cultural performances and sporting events such as The Arnold Classic. But now that county commissioners plan to demolish the building to make way for a smaller memorial, regular patrons are looking for alternative spaces.WOSU Newsno5:07New Plan For Vets Memorial: Renovate And Expand?http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/10/22/new-plan-for-vets-memorial-renovate-and-expand/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/10/22/new-plan-for-vets-memorial-renovate-and-expand/#commentsTue, 22 Oct 2013 20:18:15 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=60241

The board that oversees the Franklin County Veterans Memorial is proposing a major renovation and expansion of the property. Board members have presented their plan to Franklin County Commissioners.

On Tuesday Franklin County commissioners heard a new proposal for Veterans Memorial. Rather than demolish the structure, this new plan would substantially renovate and expand the facility. Though proponents say they have substantial support from veterans, two of the three commissioners seemed skeptical of the idea.

Earlier this year, the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation â€“ the CDDC â€“ proposed tearing down the nearly 60-year-old complex and building a smaller memorial to replace it.

The current 3,900 seat theater would be replaced with an amphitheater. Most office space for veteransâ€™ services would be eliminated. But that plan did not sit well with the board that oversees Vets Memorial. Board members went before the Franklin County Commission to ask instead for an expanded and renovated building.

Their proposal, says board member Robert Thurman, enjoys widespread support.

â€œThe Korean War Veterans are in support of our plan; the Catholic War Veterans; the Vietnam Veterans Association is in favor of our plan,â€ Thurman said.

The new plan might cost twice the estimated $50 million for the CDDCâ€™s completely rebuilt and downsized memorial. Thatâ€™s one reason says memorial board member Bill Goldman, that Vets should remain a revenue-generating venue.

â€œHow do we honor our veterans and letâ€™s do it by building a new facility. We believe that thatâ€™s not necessary; and in fact if a pure memorial is built, it will cost this community a fortune.

Commissioner Marilyn Brown wanted to know why some veterans wanted to keep the present building while others, particularly those who worked with the CDDC, were in favor of a new facility.

â€œHow is it that one group of the veterans are advocating very much for the CDDCâ€™s plan and not what youâ€™reâ€¦?â€

Bill Goldman responded:

â€œWe never had a seat at that table. And I attended one meeting and the alternative that was given to the veterans that were appointed to that board was letâ€™s build a new facility that memorializes veterans. Had we had a seat at that table we believe that we could have presented at least an alternative to tearing it down.â€

Brown later asked for more substantive financial information concerning the renovation.

After the meeting was over, John Oâ€™Grady did not seem swayed by the Veterans Memorial Board proposal.

â€œThis plan is a lot more convoluted; thereâ€™s a lot more questions to be answered including where will all this money come from? This is a very, very financially ambitious plan at a time when thereâ€™s a lot of other things that are out there. Weâ€™ll have to see how that goes,â€ Oâ€™Grady said.

Oâ€™Grady did suggest that he was leaning toward the CDDC proposal.

â€œThe CDDC plan thatâ€™s been presented; thereâ€™s been a lot of thought, time, effort thatâ€™s been put into it. It certainly doesnâ€™t come with the expense or cost that the Vets Memorial Boardâ€™s plan does. But we still have a lot of questions about the CDDC plan so we will, as we move forward and those questions are answered, if theyâ€™re answered to our satisfaction then we will probably — we could very easily move forward with that plan sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Several members of the public who attended the meeting said they were in favor of saving the old memorial. Jack Steinhausser is a veteran from Gahanna.

â€œThis ought to come up for public voting not just a few select people giving their opinion. Letâ€™s vote for it. The veterans are not getting a clean shake here,â€ Steinhausser.

Steinhausser was incensed that the fate of Vets Memorial lay in the hands of so few people.

â€œI think they should put it out here and let the veterans â€“ thatâ€™s their building. Itâ€™s not for people to build condos on it. It was for the veterans of the state of Ohio and [the] Columbus metropolitan area; not just for a few people to dictate to us what they want to do,â€ Steinhausser said.

More than a hundred motorcyclists rallied Saturday at the Franklin County Veterans Memorial. They were protesting plans by the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation to tear down the memorial and replace it with an amphitheater.

More than a hundred motorcyclists rallied Saturday at the Franklin County Veterans Memorial. They were protesting plans by the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation to tear down the memorial and replace it with an amphitheater.

Steve Ebersole speaks for the local American Legion district, one of the groups opposed to the memorialâ€™s demolition. Ebersole says what developers really want is the real estate.

â€œWhat they want to do is take the rest of the 17 acres â€“ the 12 acres on the back half â€“ and build up apartments and condos. So in my opinion it is purposely a land grab,â€ Ebersole says.

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman says he wants what he calls a â€œtrue memorial to our veterans.â€ Guy Worley, head of the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation says thereâ€™s no reason why the city canâ€™t be home to the best veteransâ€™ memorial in the U.S. Both men support tearing down the almost 60-year-old building with its auditorium, meeting and office space and replacing it with an amphitheater. But the American Legionâ€™s Ebersole says public support is against demolition.

â€œVeterans as a whole in this community do not want the memorial torn down,â€ Ebersole says.

Last month the development corporation said that a new 25-million-dollar memorial would be paid for by Les and Abigail Wexner.

Plans were unveiled Tuesday to develop the area around COSI. 56 acres surrounding the center would be highlighted by a new veteransâ€™ memorial, a downtown Columbus zoo exhibit, the creation of a new neighborhood and a lot more green space.

Plans were unveiled Tuesday to develop the area around COSI. Fifty-six acres surrounding the center would be highlighted by a new veteransâ€™ memorial, a downtown Columbus zoo exhibit, the creation of a new neighborhood and a lot more green space.

Rumors that the Franklin County Veterans Memorial would be torn down and an arts venue erected in its place were only half-right. If all goes according to plan, Vets will meet the wrecking ball but a new memorial will be constructed in its place â€“ mostly an outdoor amphitheater with enclosed museum, office and classroom space. Guy Worley, is head of the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation.

â€œWe have the No. 1 zoo in America. We have the Number One Center for Science and Industry. Weâ€™re going to have the best state veteransâ€™ memorial in the entire country,â€ Worley said.

It will be a stunning structure overlooking the Scioto River with a magnificent view of the Columbus skyline. A committee of veterans chaired by former senator and veteran John Glenn came up with the concept.

â€œIf we can make all these interactive exhibits and not make it just a dry museum, then this will be more than worthwhile,â€ said Glenn.

Glenn says heâ€™d like to see a sky bridge or underground walkway from COSI to the new memorial.

Just south of COSI planners want to build an indoor zoo attraction, though they say itâ€™s too soon to know what form that attraction might take. Zoo president Tom Stalf says a partnership with COSI will benefit both institutions.

â€œWe were extremely excited about being close to COSI. COSI and the zoo have a great partnership and weâ€™re looking forward to having a stronger partnership,â€ Stalf said.

Developers also want to build 1,200 residential units to the west of COSI which will also feature retail shopping. That way, say leaders, the area wonâ€™t shut down when its cultural attractions close their doors at dayâ€™s end.

Itâ€™s all a part of a plan to reverse the decline of east Franklinton. City and county leaders hope the project will revitalize the areaâ€™s sagging economy.

But whoâ€™s going to foot the bill? John Glenn says Les and Abigail Wexner have agreed to finance the $25 million memorial but the remainder of funding appears sketchy. All Guy Worley would say is this:

â€œ[There will be] public/private partnerships. We will start to develop each one of these concepts. Today what you saw was a strategic land-use plan; what would be the best use of the land. The next thing weâ€™ll start to do is design these different concepts and start to put together public/private partnerships to raise the funds to actually implement this plan.

Planners are moving forward in at least one area. Theyâ€™ll demolish the Main Street dam which will narrow the course of the Scioto adding additional real estate on the Franklinton side. Planners want to turn 33 acres into an arboretum with about 1,000 trees.

All this wonâ€™t happen overnight. Worley says the entire project could be ten years in the making.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/08/14/area-around-cosi-to-be-transfromed-local-leaders-say/feed/0Columbus Downtown Development Corporation,cosi,Franklin County Veterans Memorial,Guy Worley,Tom Stalf,zooPlans were unveiled Tuesday to develop the area around COSI. 56 acres surrounding the center would be highlighted by a new veteransâ€™ memorial, a downtown Columbus zoo exhibit, the creation of a new neighborhood and a lot more green space.Plans were unveiled Tuesday to develop the area around COSI. 56 acres surrounding the center would be highlighted by a new veteransâ€™ memorial, a downtown Columbus zoo exhibit, the creation of a new neighborhood and a lot more green space.WOSU Newsno3:18Demolition Of Veterans Memorial Would Follow National Trendhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/07/03/53579/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/07/03/53579/#commentsWed, 03 Jul 2013 08:15:23 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=53579

The future of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex remains a mystery. Last month media reports suggested that the venue might be torn down in an effort to revitalize the surrounding area.

The future of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex remains a mystery. Last month media reports suggested that the venue might be torn down in an effort to revitalize downtown Columbusâ€™ western peninsula.

Itâ€™s hard to pin city or county officials down on the future of Franklin County Veterans Memorial which sits on the west bank of the Scioto River across West Broad Street from COSI. The Columbus Dispatch reported last month that thereâ€™s a $50 million plan in the works that includes tearing down the memorial. No county commissioner would respond to WOSUâ€™s request for comment. But Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman did, somewhat reluctantly, on WOSUâ€™s All Sides with Ann Fisher.

Coleman responds

â€œBecause itâ€™s really not soup yet itâ€™s kind of hard and difficult to talk about,â€ Coleman said. â€œSo I will just refer back to whatâ€™s already been disclosed. And thatâ€™s a different idea for what Veteranâ€™s Memorial is; a true memorial to veterans.â€

Coleman says the goal of the project is to reinvigorate downtownâ€™s west peninsula. By adding features such as an arts venue and a zoo, the project would make the area, in his words, â€œworld-class.â€

â€œThis is not a secret, itâ€™s just not. Itâ€™s an evolving scenario,â€ Coleman said.

Some people know Vets Memorial only because itâ€™s home to the Arnold Classic. But the original intent for the building, which opened in 1955, was to honor the men and women whoâ€™d served in the U.S. military.

â€œThis room is really meant to give honor and a place of serenity and so itâ€™s beautiful, itâ€™s attractive, and it serves those men and women that sacrificed their lives,â€ says memorial general manager Rodney Myers.

A lesser known room

An exterier view of Veteran’s Memorial. Inside these walls is a room with names of local men and women who perished in wartime.

Vets Memorial features a 3,900-seat auditorium. But thereâ€™s a smaller hall that few people visit. On the walls of the Memorial Room are the names of local men and women who perished in wartime. Myers stands beneath the 25-foot-high ceiling, looking out through a wall of windows, at a breath-taking view.

â€œItâ€™s probably the most beautiful view looking at the skyline of Columbus. City Hall is directly in front of us and you have the AEP tower just north of us to your left and the Santa Maria right in front and so as I said it is the most attractive view in downtown Columbus,â€ Myers says.

Maybe too attractive not to redevelop and use that real estate for something else. But that thought riles some veterans.

Hickman is the National Vice-Commander of the American Legion. The legion post he belongs to meets monthly at Veterans Memorial.

â€œI guess Les Wexner wants to donate money there and he wants some kind of art deal down there in place of the Vets Memorial,â€ Hickman says. â€œIâ€™m all in favor of art but thatâ€™s the veteransâ€™ memorial and we need to have the Veterans Memorial there in downtown Columbus for all the sacrifices the veterans made throughout the past years.â€

There are all sorts of 20th century buildings across the U.S. that were erected to honor veterans. Some are auditoriums, others are sporting facilities. The idea, says historian Ed Lentz, was to get away from the 19th century notion of erecting statues or even tombs.

â€œI think that they wanted to get away from the idea that these were simply mausoleums,â€ Lentz says. â€œMost veterans have a long life ahead of them. But if youâ€™re really trying to do something to express what Americans think of veterans and their service, it really makes more sense to have something living rather than something static.â€

Other memorials falling

Itâ€™s not the case in Columbus, but elsewhere all sorts of memorial structures are falling apart. In Greensboro, N.C., the faÃ§ade of World War Memorial Stadium, dedicated in 1926, is literally falling off. That bothers UNC-Greensboro professor David Wharton.

â€œThe fact that itâ€™s a world war memorial means a lot to me,â€ Wharton says. â€œI really feel that allowing this monument to deteriorate is disrespectful to the World War I veterans who were killed in that conflict and I think are being forgotten.â€

In Greensboro, finding funds to restore the stadium is the problem. Buffalo, New York had a War Memorial Stadium which fell into such disrepair that it earned the nickname The Rockpile. Once home to the Buffalo Bills, The Rockpile closed in 1987 and was demolished a year later after the city built a new venue. Baltimoreâ€™s Memorial Stadium hosted the Orioles and the Colts. That stadium was demolished in 2002.

Other veteransâ€™ memorials are barely hanging on. In Worcester, Mass., the Worcester Memorial Auditorium, built in 1933, has been shuttered for several years. But in its heyday, it hosted all sorts of events.

â€œIt could hold performances of a symphony orchestra just as well as a basketball game.â€

Thatâ€™s Preservation Worcesterâ€™s Susan Ceccacci. She says business for the auditorium began to dry up when the city renovated a concert hall dating back to 1857. Then came the final blow.

â€œThe city also built an arena where lots of sports events and large events like circuses and the Ice Capades and so forth were held,â€ Ceccacci says. â€œAnd gradually the auditorium sort of fell by the way.â€

Even with Columbusâ€™ convention center and Nationwide Arena, Franklin County Veterans Memorial seems to be holding its own. Last year the county set aside $3 million for repairs and upgrades. Shows at the memorial are said to be booked for several years to come. General Manager Rodney Myers believes that whatever is decided, Central Ohioâ€™s veterans wonâ€™t be left behind.

â€œOur county commissioners, this is their land, their venue, theyâ€™re going to make the right decision and weâ€™re going to do everything that we can do to honor our veterans,â€ Myers says.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/07/03/53579/feed/4American Legion,Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman,David Wharton,Ed Lentz,Franklin County Veterans Memorial,Glen Hickman,Rodney Myers,Susan CeccacciThe future of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex remains a mystery. Last month media reports suggested that the venue might be torn down in an effort to revitalize the surrounding area.The future of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex remains a mystery. Last month media reports suggested that the venue might be torn down in an effort to revitalize the surrounding area.WOSU Newsno6:52